Chapter 1 – Colors Without Joy

Every story start with some similar kind of feeling. Sometimes it can be hope. Other times, heartbreak. For Yug Sinha, it was rare moment when he experience  both type of felling at a sametime.

It was Holi—a festival meant for joy—in a sleepy corner of Agra. Usually, the whole city exploded with color. Kids tore through the narrow streets, giggling and flinging gulal at anyone in their way. Music bounced off every rooftop. Families danced and laughed and loved like the whole world was theirs.

But for Yug, Holi felt different this year. He watched everyone get swept up in happiness and realized it had nothing to do with him now. Not after what happened.

Just days before, life spun out in a direction Yug never expected. He felt out of sync with the world, like he was standing in the eye of a storm of colors and laughter but couldn’t feel any of it.

He’d just graduated high school—finally free. During those last bittersweet months, after all the awkward hellos and not-so-silent daydreams, he’d fallen for Meghna. Really fallen. For once, he thought someone saw past the awkwardness. Someone got him.

But school ended, and life started pulling them down separate tracks. Suddenly, the only thing holding them together were their routines—and those routines barely lined up anymore. Yug spent his days drowning in coaching classes; Meghna got lost in her own schedule. Every day, it just got harder to find each other.

Still, they tried. They promised themselves a first date—a tiny plan that Yug treated like it was the whole world to him.

But right before that day, Meghna left for her uncle’s place. She said it was just for the holidays.

From then on, their relationship lived only on screens. Calls, texts—just scraps, really.

Then it all started fading. The calls got short. The messages turned cold. Eventually, there was just silence.

A few days before Holi, Yug called Meghna, holding on by a thread.

“I miss you…” he whispered.

She just sighed. “Just go to sleep, okay? I’ll come tomorrow.”

But “tomorrow” never showed up. The world moved on without warning. Suddenly, she stopped picking up—even texts went unanswered. No explanations. No way to reach her. Just a wall of silence where Meghna used to be.

Girl cared for was simply gone.

Yug woke up early on Holi and sent his message first thing. 

“Happy Holi, Meghna ❤️.” 

He waited. The message showed as delivered, but that was it. No reply. 

He spent Holi with the others, painting his face, laughing when he had to. But inside, it was just… empty. 

Days went by, then weeks. Meghna didn’t just skip replying—she stopped altogether. When Yug called, her phone was always off. He went in circles trying to figure it out. He couldn't believe she would just avoid him. He kept reassuring himself. There had to be some reason. 

Then, one day, he checked WhatsApp and saw he was blocked. Everything inside him just crumbled. Yug always thought he was tough. Unbreakable. Someone who never lost control over his emotions. But now he was falling apart. 

He stopped eating, stopped sleeping. That  in his chest it always feel pain in his chest. And on the rare nights when sleep found him, Meghna followed—right into his dreams. 

He was slipping, day by day. Life turned into this endless loop. He’d stare at his phone for hours, dial her number a hundred times, hoping maybe—just maybe—she’d finally pick up. But she never did. 

He didn’t want revenge. He didn’t even need her to come back. He just wanted an answer. 

What happened? 

Why did she disappear like that? 

What did I do wrong? 

Deep down, he knew it. Meghna had ghosted him. She ended it, no warning, nothing. Just gone. Yug kept searching for a reason anyway—he couldn’t accept that the same girl who once said he was her whole world could leave without a word. Sometimes he thought about showing up at her house to get answers, but he never went. He was too scared to really know. 

So he did nothing. 

Days slipped past in silence. He spent most of his time lying in bed, binging romcom anime—stories where love always came back in the end. He barely talked, barely smiled, barely felt alive. 

Then, out of nowhere, his twelfth-grade results came out. For the first time in weeks, something finally cut through the pain. His parents jumped into action—they started scouting colleges, filling out counseling forms, dragging him to interviews, talking about his future. 

But Yug never told them what he was going through. Not a word.

Sleepless nights. Anxiety that just wouldn’t let up. That heavy emptiness hanging over him all day, every day. Yug carried it all on his own. Deep down, though, he couldn’t keep lying to himself. Meghna wasn’t his future anymore. She’d slipped into his past, just another chapter he couldn’t rewrite. If he kept living in those memories, he’d never find his way forward.

Preparing for entrance exams in that same closed-off room felt like serving time. And somewhere along the line, Yug realized—if he didn’t do something soon, he’d lose himself for good.

Then, one quiet night changed everything. For the first time in weeks, he didn’t play another episode of anime to block everything out. Something more important was waiting for him—a decision. Maybe the hardest one he’d ever have to make: to let go. To move on. Not because he’d forgotten her, but because he finally understood—clinging to someone who’d already let go of him was only tearing apart whatever was left.

He lay there, staring at the ceiling. In the stillness, he whispered, “It’s time… to move on.” No clue where life was about to lead him, but for the first time in ages, he was ready to take a step. He was done hiding. Done letting the past hold him hostage. He had to walk out of that room, into the rest of his life.

Later that evening, he sat with his family and said he didn't want to spend another year struggling for the JEE. He wanted college—this year. His parents were surprised, honestly. Maybe a bit relieved, too.

The next morning, Yug and his dad, Mr. Sinha, set off to visit a college his father had quietly researched. The Royal Institute of Science & Engineering—RISE. They asked questions, checked out the campus, got through the paperwork. Suddenly, Yug was officially enrolled. He even found out when classes would start.

That night, sleep avoided him again. He stared at the ceiling and retraced every step that brought him here. Joining college was simple compared to what came next. Starting over: that was the real challenge. He’d promised to leave the past behind, but that one question haunted him—How do you stop remembering someone who once meant the world?

After a long silence, he managed a small, sad smile. Not because he was happy, but because he was making a promise to himself. “Fine, Meghna,” he whispered. “No more tears. I’ll make new friends. I’ll laugh. I’ll find things to enjoy in college. I’ll meet loads of new people…”

He paused. Then, with a quiet certainty, he finished the thought out loud. “But I’m not falling into that trap again. Friendship’s enough. Love… not anymore.”

He had no idea life was already plotting its own twist. RISE was about to challenge every promise he’d made with his broken heart.

That pain—Meghna’s goodbye—became the big turning point. Some wounds never really heal. They change you. Break you, or build someone new out of the wreckage. Yug chose to build. The next few months became a fight—one nobody else saw but him.

He started going to the gym, not for admiration, but because every drop of sweat washed away a piece of all that old pain. Eventually, the mirror stopped showing a boy desperate for love. It showed a young man trying to earn his own respect.

But the gym was only part of the work. He knew his real struggle was his silence. Yug was always the introvert, always overthinking every single word before he dared speak. So, he started paying attention. He watched anime about classrooms and high schools, not just for the stories, but for the details—how people laughed, made friends, got through tough days, showed their feelings.

Bit by bit, he chipped away at the walls he’d built around himself. Each awkward hello, every uncomfortable pause, every tiny victory—those were the bricks coming down.

He stopped living for someone else’s approval. For the first time, he was chasing something that belonged only to him: a better version of himself. He wasn’t looking for love to save him. He was fighting to become the person heartbreak had forced him to imagine.

And just like that, without even noticing, Yug Sinha—who once felt completely broken—had already started changing his story.

What he didn’t see coming was fate, already busy drafting the next chapter. A new city.

A fresh start. A college full of strangers who would soon mean the world. Meghna’s chapter had ended.

But This version of Yug has a different perspectives.

He is different character for this world. He is  extroverted person who doesn’t trust anyone. And will do anything to achieve his goals.

Yug’s story? The real story had just begun

Be ready to witness the journey of Yug Sinha’s college life

Next Chapter: Among the Butterflies